Rumi’s Masnavi, Book One, is read by JawidMojaddedi from his own excellent translation, and in his beautiful voice. The first seven tales are included in the ongoing project, all podcast in mp3 format, which you can play on the Windows Media Player or download to your own music player.

This translation, the Oxford World’s Classics edition, which was awarded the 2004 Lois Roth Prize, follows the Persian original by using rhyming couplets. To add to the experience, Toure Moumouni and Alain Kersanty perform backround music on ney, robab, tar, and daf, to enhance the lovely words.

There is also a Paypal donation button on the site. Donations received by the author are given to the Nimatullahi charity that maintains medical clinics for the neediest citizens of several West African nations, where no one is turned away.